The Downlow | Thursday, Sept. 15

Hey there! Yesterday was the start of a very special event at Walt Disney World and we’re here to tell you about it. The Disney Downlow for Thursday, Sept. 15, has arrived!

Yesterday was the kick-off of the Epcot International Food and Wine Festival! This yearly event is one of the most popular Disney events and it is an absolute must-experience for fans of Disney, and well, food and wine! This year’s festival runs from September 14 to November 14 and features a huge variety of interesting and flavorful food from across the world. The festival is comprised of booths set up at almost all of the countries around the World Showcase, as well as several additional booths with extra-special offerings. Most booths features three to four food options, a dessert and a special beverage.

Our friends over at Disney Food Blog have put together a fantastic collection of all of the booths, foods, and prices for this year’s festival and anyone planning a trip there this Fall should definitely take a few minutes to check out their page.

The Food and Wine Festival Center

Bloggers, food lovers and Disney-philes from across the region were out in full force to cover Day One of the festival today. Over at WDW News Today, they have some great photos of the menu boards at each booth!

Over the last few years, we here at Disney Downlow have been fortunate enough to visit for the Epcot Food and Wine Festival several times. There are a lot of tips and secrets for enjoying the festival (check out some from our pals at Touring Plans), but we’ve always found it helpful to start your day at the Food and Wine Festival Center, located in the former Wonders of Life Pavilion. Here you can get your festival passport, shop for festival related goodies, and see some special presentations during the festival.

Inside the Festival Center

Once you’ve got your passport, you are ready to start making your way around the World Showcase. In years past, one of the fun special activities of Food and Wine was for guests to track their journey by getting a stamp in their passport for each county’s food both. New this year is a set of stickers that will replace the stamp (and hopefully help with some of the congestion in line)!

The Disney Downlow crew is excited to be going to the Epcot Food and Wine Festival again this year and we hope you’ll stop back in a few weeks to check out our first-hand report! We’re excited to try some old favorite and some offerings, including:

Cheddar cheese soup from the Canada booth and what’s left of the filet.

There are so many options to choose from and there are so many great sweet options too. We could devote an entire other page to the wine and beer lists as well. If you’re making a day of it at Epcot Food and Wine Festival, it’s important to pace yourself, enjoy the surroundings, and have a great time along with everyone else.